Deborah Butterfield (b. 1949) is best known for life-size sculptures of horses that reflect her lifelong affinity for the animals and, as she has said, serve as metaphorical self-portraits. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of California, Davis, in 1973, where she met fellow artist and future husband John Buck (M.F.A. ’70). Butterfield began developing the horse as her primary subject while a graduate student at UC Davis. Butterfield constructs her horses from found natural materials, including branches, logs and driftwood, sometimes incorporating debris gathered after wildfires and other environmental disasters. Although they appear to be made of wood, many of her signature sculptures are meticulously cast in bronze. Each piece is individually molded and cast before the sculpture is welded together; patinas, heat and chemical treatments recreate the colors and textures of the original wood with remarkable precision. Butterfield gained national recognition in the late 1970s and was included in the 1979 Whitney Biennial. Her work has since been exhibited and collected widely, while her monumental horses have become especially visible in public spaces. Travelers encounter her sculptures at major airports, including Pohina (2001) at San Francisco International Airport and Blackleaf (2017) at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Her public works also appear on university campuses, in museums and sculpture gardens across the country. Butterfield divides her time between Montana and Hawaii, where she continues to live and work in close proximity to horses.